Why didn't I like these discs? Does anyone else feel the same way?

The discs by these well-known artists just didn't click for me: Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, Ryan Adams, Steve Earle and Wilco. It isn't that I don't dig these artists. I've seen them all live multiple times. I have every official release from each artist as well as a slew of bootlegs.  I know many readers put them on their 2011 lists. 
I guess that's not really a discussion but more of an observation.
Instead I found the following discs to be my 2011 favorites:
1-Jason Isbell  "Here We Rest"
2-Girls Guns and Glory "Sweet Nothings"
3-Todd Snider "The Storyteller"
4-Dave Alvin "Eleven Eleven"
5-Joe Ely "Satisfied At Last"
6-Drew Kennedy "Fresh Water and the Salton Sea"
7-Emory Quinn "See You At The Next Light"
8-John Howie Jr. and the Rosewod Bluff  "Leavin' Yesterday"
9-Los Fabulocos "Dos"
10-The Bottle Rockets "Not So Loud"

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Permalink Reply by steviedal on December 12, 2011 at 10:18am

Lucinda and Steve's efforts were Ok but kinda treading water.

John Hiatt's was his best for a while

Ryan Adams' album grew on me slowly and i love it now.

Wilco i've never liked since Summerteeth.

Permalink Reply by Hal Bogerd on December 12, 2011 at 10:26am

Thanks Steve. "Treading water" is a good description.

Not bad discs but nothing there to displace any older favorites.

 

Permalink Reply by Jack on December 12, 2011 at 11:00am

As much as I like John Hiatt, I thought his latest sounded flat.  The songwriting and musicianship, as always, were solid, but the arrangements seemed by the numbers, for lack of a more precise phrase. It's like you could have taken the lyrics from this tune and sang them on that tune and nothing would have seemed amiss.

As for Ryan Adams, for me he's either dead on(La Cienaga Just Smiled), or the opposite.  People say he's prolific, I say he just records too many tunes. Think he needs a better editor, as not every musical thought he has needs recording.  Haven't heard the new one yet but his track record (with me) gets in the way.  Same thoughts regarding Wilco.

Joe Ely's "Satisfied At Last" I thought was his best since his masterpiece, "Letter To Laredo", not to slight anything in between. Great guitar sounds.  Wish he'd tour with a full band more frequently.

Dave Alvin's "Eleven, Eleven" was a great return to loud form and translates really well live.  Love the latest lineup.

Permalink Reply by Brendan Cooke on December 12, 2011 at 11:04am

From a personal viewpoint sometimes I find that I dismiss albums too soon partly because I don't always give them the time they deserve. I re-listened to the Lucinda Williams album recently, because like you Hal I wasn't immediately knocked out by it  when it first came out. This led me to a re-appraisal that it was better than I'd first thought though it still didn't make my ten. Again I had a similar experience with the new Wilco. The John Hiatt album though did make my 10 and was more immediate and ironically just displaced Jason Isbel in my list. I found it very difficult to separate these two-both contain examples of great songwriting and I thought they were quite similar in many respects.

I know from my personal experience (and I'm not saying this is true for you or others ) that sometimes the vast quantity of good music (and I think there has been a lot this year) overwhelms the quality of my listening and perhaps this affects my appreciation of albums by more familiar artists...just a thought.

 

Permalink Reply by Hal Bogerd on December 12, 2011 at 4:13pm

I did see 8 out of 10 from my list live (tickets ranging from free to $25) so that might have something to do with it. I could have seen Steve Earle when he came to town and that might have changed my impression of his disc. But at $55/ticket, for a couple with drinks and parking you're talking a $150 night!

Permalink Reply by Terry Roland on December 12, 2011 at 11:07am

I like your list. Dave Alvin and Joe Ely both released excellent discs. I have a minor(or major confession depending  on your persepctive).....I'm just not into Gillian Welch and the new album didn't do much to help with that-I experience it as kind of dull. Maybe I just need to be in Americana Rehab or something, but her stuff just doesn't resonate with me.....Okay...handcuff me and take me away!  Ha! 

 

tr

Permalink Reply by Hal Bogerd on December 12, 2011 at 4:07pm

Gillian is another (hang us both) and I'd say R.E.Keen's last disc was another that was  certainly competent but never really hooked me.

Permalink Reply by Jack on December 12, 2011 at 4:19pm

How's Gillian with the Civil Wars opening strike you?  Sounds like penance to me.

Permalink Reply by Will James on December 12, 2011 at 5:32pm

God is this list what Americana has come to? Nothing worse than Steve and Lucinda semi-content...

Permalink Reply by Hal Bogerd on December 12, 2011 at 5:41pm

semi-content...

is that almost but not quite incontinent?

Permalink Reply by Will James on December 12, 2011 at 7:32pm

Maybe with Steve these days...

Permalink Reply by Jayson Kaplan on December 13, 2011 at 7:00am

Not sure what's not to love about Isbell's album. I have friends that will often show disdain for anything that even borders on country that fell in love with songs like "Alabama Pines" and "Codeine" (two of the more outright country tunes on the album). Between songs like that and rockers like "Go It Alone" and "Heart on a String" I love the range this album has. Also, I just really dig Isbell as a writer. He paints such vivid pictures. I fell in love with "Alabama Pines" at first listen. I have never been to Alabama, but that song nonetheless made me feel instantly nostalgic for that place I'd never been. That kind of experience with a song is something I get from a writer like Isbell.  Isbell was my favorite songwriter in the band during his stint with the DBTs and I enjoy his previous solo  outings as well, but I really feel like he's hitting his stride now and cannot wait to hear what he has to offer next. Songwriters like Isbell, Kasey Anderson and Justin Townes Earle have been a tremendous inspiration to me as a musician.

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Created by No Depression Feb 17, 2009 at 9:06pm. Last updated by No Depression Apr 9.